Zed

Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor built from scratch in Rust by the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter. It’s designed to be the fastest editor available — with sub-millisecond response times, GPU-accelerated rendering, and a native interface with no Electron overhead — while providing state-of-the-art AI assistance through its integrated AI assistant and MCP context server support.

The AI assistant (powered by Claude by default, with support for other models) is deeply integrated: it understands your current file and project context, can edit code inline with your instruction, answer questions about the codebase, and write tests or documentation. The editor-AI interface is tightly coupled rather than a sidebar afterthought, reflecting the team’s philosophy that AI should be a native part of the editor experience.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) support means Zed’s AI assistant can be extended with external context and tools. Add an MCP context server and Zed can incorporate database schemas, API documentation, issue tracker data, or any other external information source into its understanding of your project. This extensibility positions Zed as a serious MCP client alongside Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Desktop.

Zed’s multiplayer collaboration is genuine: see your teammates’ cursors in real time, share a terminal session, voice call from within the editor, and collaborate on code the way Google Docs handles documents. There’s no “live share” setup — it’s built into the editor’s architecture from the ground up.

The editor supports all major languages via Tree-sitter for syntax highlighting and LSP for code intelligence, with a plugin system for extending functionality. Vim mode is first-class.

Zed is free and open-source for personal use. Zed Pro ($10/month) includes AI usage credits for the built-in assistant.